Seniors in the Washington, D.C., area should take care when doing a college search, an official at the D.C. Tuition Assistance Grant (DCTAG) program told The Washington Post.

The DCTAG provides students from high schools in the nation's capital with grants of up to $10,000 to attend schools in other states in order to offset the higher tuition rates associated with studying out-of-state. However, Gregory Meeropol, deputy assistant superintendent in the Office of the State Superintendent of Education, told the newspaper that students should choose carefully when filling out college applications.

"While DCTAG has been a fantastic program at getting kids into college, we can admit we would like to see better numbers of TAG students earning degrees," said Meeropol, as quoted by the newspaper.

Patricia McGuire, president of Trinity Washington University, recently wrote in the Huffington Post that officials should increase funding for the DCTAG program, as the grants have not increased in line with tuition hikes since the inception of the initiative 10 years ago.

If you're filling out college applications, be sure to ask your adviser about programs like DCTAG and scholarships before committing to any decisions.